We arrived upon a hilly and mountainous region, the tips of the small mountains shaped sharply like blades. This region we found ourselves in gave a sense of danger, more than the places we walked before. From the looks of it, we were reaching deeper into the island, where more danger lingered in whichever nooks and crannies. My danger sense was almost at a max in this place, quite making the hairs on my body stand a bit.

  And the smell was quite… like hundreds had died here, and their flesh had decomposed to mix with the soil, leaving the smell of death from the past to linger, far past and recent. As we walked down the rough, rocky path, there was a big monster corpse left at the side. I had not seen something like it until now. It was a big four legged beast, four meters in length, it was like an oversized crocodile.

  The corpse was torn apart, like a giant blade sliced on it several times. And its head was pierced through. That must be the killing blow. There were signs of a chaotic battle, impacts on the earthly surfaces, shattered boulders. Good thing it hadn’t started really rotting yet, it would have smelled bad as we passed by. I wouldn’t like that.

  “Where are we even gonna camp around here?” I asked, thinking how hard it was gonna be finding a safe space around here. This region was like a couple of dozen miles in size, it would take a while before we got out of here.

  “Maybe find some caves?” Hartwin casually said.

  “Yeah, and those caves will be crawling with monsters, too.” I let out a sigh. “Looks like we'll really be needing a look out this time.”

  Guess we’ll be relying the most on Nira this time around.

  Especially in this region. Nira was our dear all nighter. But then again, with the other Cursed Children, I should be mostly fine. Unless there was a sudden attack, I’d live and be safe.

  Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath my feet shake.

  Ugh… What did I just say…?

  I quickly leaped back just as a beast emerged aggressively from the soil. Whatever the case, it wasn’t surprising anymore that a monster suddenly came up to attack us. I was becoming used to it. Although, enemies popping up from the ground out of the blue was not exactly a thing I favored.

  It was a worm monster, a couple of meters wide. As for how long it was, I couldn't tell when its body was still buried in the ground. But three meters of its body was outside the soil. Its skin looked like it was mostly covered in rocks, giving it some sort of protective shell.

  It opened its mouth, filled with sharp teeth, letting out a shriek.

  Hartwin moved in and stabbed his magic coated blade into it, and managed to pierce through the tough skin. He was about to release the magic, but the worm quickly moved away, releasing itself from the blade. Velar intercepted the beast and swung down his greatsword.

  The beast instantly noticed him and it halted instantaneously, beating all its momentum, to evade Velar. And it subsequently slithered its body back and turned around like the lashing of a whip, and crashed against Velar, blowing him away. The worm followed my knight and opened its mouth, intending to consume him.

  But Nira flew and crashed against the worm and swung down her claws at the beast’s face. But she mainly chipped off the skin’s surface. However, Nira’s intention was not to damage it, but to give Velar a second to recover. Just as the worm was about to engage her, Nira turned into a fog and withdrew to avoid its attacks.

  “Velar! I’ll get its attention, you land a decisive strike!” Hartwin shouted.

  “Got it!”

  Hartwin turned towards Nira. “Back me up!”

  “Y-Yes!”

  Hartwin attracted the monster’s attention by delivering multiple strikes. It shrieked and moved in to attack Hartwin. He was moving all over, and it seemed to annoy the monster. It was then that the rest of the monster’s body emerged from the soil completely. It was around ten meters long. Fucking nasty.

  It raised its tail and swung it down towards the running Hartwin. The tail was moving too fast for Hartwin to evade in time, and getting hit by it would surely fatally hurt him. However, before it could hit him, Nira intercepted the tail and held it for a fraction of a second to protect and let Hartwin move away from its trajectory. However, as she couldn’t completely resist the monster’s strength, she was crushed against the ground.

  “Nira!” Hartwin exclaimed.

  It was then at that moment that Velar had an opportunity. He gathered all of his strength, his sword radiating with magic. He leaped towards the monster and brought down his blade on the monster’s neck with intense strength. The sword cut through the rocky hide and sliced through the flesh.

  The monster’s body was cut in half from its neck.

  Even the moment its body, or bodies, fell to the ground, it was still writhing. To make sure it was dead, Velar stabbed the monster in the head. That way, it shouldn’t attempt to do anything dangerous now. Except for the part that it was still writhing around, especially the lower body, but that was just how those kinds of creatures were.

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  “Nira, you good?!” Hartwin quickly rushed and checked up on Nira, who was still lying on the ground bloodied.

  Nira slowly looked up at him and gave a mild nod with a blank expression. “Yes.”

  Hartwin let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks for that. That thing almost got me.” He slowly helped her up as she regenerated.

  “You’re w-welcome.” Nira patted the dirt off her shirt.

  I approached the writhing, dying worm with a disgusted wince. “My guess, the welcoming mat.”

  Hartwin scratched the back of his head. “Didn’t expect something of this size to move that fast.”

  “... Better stay more vigilant in this place. They may provide even more surprises,” I said.

  “This one is quite edible,” Taneva said out of the blue.

  “Eh?” I was dumbfounded.

  “I had something like this in the past. It’s not poisonous or venomous. And the creatures it hunts to eat are pretty safe ones, too.”

  “Humans too, huh?”

  “Well, we are still prey in the end. But not often they find humans.”

  Nuh uh. No way. I’m not eating no worm again.

  Reminded me of the time when I went out with my brother. What’s with this world and eating worms?

  “Whatever, I’m not eating any of that. We still have plenty of food to survive on.”

  “Hey, just brought it up in case you wanna try it out. Not like it’s your first time eating worms.”

  “Grrrr.” I growled towards him. “Of course you know that. You creep. First off, I recall those were herbivores.”

  “Carnivores, herbivores. What does it matter? They’re both edible. Hehehe.”

  “No way. Whatever, let’s just press on.”

  We continued on into the path. There were plenty of smaller monsters, but those were no trouble. The big ones we have to look out for.

  I placed a hand on Nira’s shoulder and whispered some words to her. “Excellent work, Nira. Hurting for the protection of your close ally is the best action you could do. I’m proud of you.”

  “R-Really?”

  “Yes. Nothing is more worth it than protecting your friends. It is noble.”

  Her face brightened and she gave an energetic nod. She was indeed learning. And she appeared quite pleased with herself.

  Some time after moving through the dangerous path, we all paused when we heard faint sounds of crumbling, like the earth was crashed with something.

  “What was that?” Hartwin asked.

  “It seems to be coming from ahead,” Velar answered.

  Considering that there were no other paths, we carried on. And that was when the sounds became louder — they were sounds of battle. All of us looked at each other for a moment before hiding behind some boulders. Ahead of us was a big monster, fighting humans…

  I didn’t expect to find humans here. I drew my hood over my head, to cover my hair especially and face.

  The monster was a four-legged beast, and its legs were like an insect’s, long and thin. Dark in color, its length was around twelve meters, and it was standing at fifteen meters tall. Its long fingers had long razor-sharp claws, and at the elbows protruded a sharp bone, almost like a blade. It had also had a hardened skin, it would seem. Its face reminded me of a mantis, but this one was uglier.

  It swung down its claws towards the group of humans engaging it, dust clouds formed upon impact along with a loud thud. The humans avoided the attack pretty easily.

  “Hahahahaha! Look at this majestic thing!”

  “This will do for a great trophy, boss!”

  “Get the ropes! Tie that shit down!”

  “Hahahaha! Kill this beast!”

  From what I could see, there were eight of them facing the monster. They were in full combat gears, wielding swords, greatswords, and spears. And they appeared to be grinning, they seemed to be having fun.

  “You think they’re friendly?” Hartwin asked quietly.

  “It’s best to assume they’re hostile,” I answered.

  “This is the only road around here, should we scale up these ridges?”

  “I would prefer not to leave the road.” These were roads for a reason. Meaning there should have less monsters present.

  “Bring that thing down to our level!”

  They evaded all the powerful attacks being brought down by the monster. They distracted it by attacking while another group worked on the ropes.

  “Just in case, we can take them out, right?” I asked my crew.

  “Of course. Small fries.” Taneva nodded with a smirk. Well, small fry for you maybe. “Still, there’s a chance if they take it down, they’ll just go.”

  The bigger guy, who seemed to be their leader, roared loudly. “Raaaaaah! Come at me, beast!” He leaped towards the monster’s face and swung down his blade. The impact let out a shockwave that pushed back the monster. However, the actual damage was shallow.

  At the same time, the others threw the ropes, and once they tied around the legs, they began pulling.

  “Pull!”

  “Heave!”

  Their teamwork was impeccable. Like people that had been working together for years.

  The monster was thrown out of balance. That gave the rest of their team the wide opening. The moment the monster hit the ground, the rest of the combatants jumped the monster. They landed several deadly hits, inflicting wounds and causing the monster to bleed all over. It cried and struggled violently before it managed to break one of the ropes.

  With its front leg free, it waves its claws sideways.

  “Oh fuck!”

  One warrior quickly erected a Palm Shield to protect himself. However, he was sent flying upon impact, crashing into a wall. The team leader quickly stepped in and slashed the monster in the neck, unleashing a powerful magical slash at close range. The monster was pushed back down.

  With the monster stunned, they continued their barrage of attacks. Some fought physically, while others launched their Armament Magic at it. There weren't any mages from what I could see. Perhaps it was really just mostly warriors here. Which would be more practical considering the state of this archipelago.

  The monster resisted, it was indeed tough. The warriors had to be more careful. But still, in the end, with everyone working together, the monster was defeated. Their leader landed a deep slash on its neck. With a strained cry, the monster dropped to the ground, and stopped moving completely.

  “Hahahaha! Tough one! But it ain’t killing us!”

  “Way to go, boss!”

  “This is one hell of a trophy, boss!”

  “Definitely! Hahaha! Start cutting it off for some trophies!”

  “Gotta get the claws, they look good to make a sword out of.”

  “If we can shape it, that is.”

  “Don’t forget the head, you idiots. Its skull will make a fine display in my hall!”

  “Yes, boss!”

  Damn, so they’re gonna take a while.

  The crew and I looked at each other. Should we just reroute? But, that would be more tiring, for me at least. It was then I sensed something fast approaching. I shifted my eyes and caught a glimpse of an object coming straight for—

  “Watch out.” I slightly pushed Hartwin.

  And a spear was embedded into the stone, right in the spot where Hartwin’s head was.

  “Woah!” Hartwin stared at the spear in shock.

  “They found us, huh?” Velar drew his sword, facing the source of the spear.

  I turned in the same direction, and there I saw a couple of men standing on top of a small cliff.

  “Of course they have scouts…” Taneva muttered.

  It was then that the scouts shouted. “Found some dimwits on the road!”

  His voice echoed throughout the area.

  Crap…

  This scenario was not preferable at all.

  And then, the group from ahead walked towards us.

  Their leader smirked with intrigue. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”